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sign, that thou art but too much a stranger at home, and very little conversant with thine own soul. However, do it that thou mayest glorify God: for he is thy Father, which seeth in secret ; and thou canst by no way more honour his omniscience, than by thus acknowledging that he sees and hears thee, when there is no one else that can see and hear thee.

(5thly) Thou glorifiest the omniscience of God, when, under lying slanders and false accusations, thou canst command and calm all the turbulencies of thy passions, by appealing to the all-seeing eye of God, who knoweth the innocence of thy soul.

Indeed, this is the great support of a true Christian when he is wrongfully aspersed, that he can retire inwardly into the retreat of a clear conscience; that he can remit his cause to God, and leave his vindication to him, who knows how he is traduced and wronged. It will be a greater comfort to us, that God knows us innocent; than a trouble and vexation, that wicked men conspire together to report us guilty. Indeed, if they could persuade God to believe them too, it might be just cause of grief and disquiet: but what great matter is it, though a company of vain, giddy, and unreasonable men take up and spread abroad lying rumours concerning us? thou art not to - stand or fall, according to their votes: and, though their slanderous tongues may blot out thy good name here on earth, yet they can never blot thy name out of the book of life. And, therefore, herein honour the omniscience of God, by bearing up cheerfully and boldly; and, if they will cast dirt upon thee, let it be their own, and not thine: this, though it may make thee look more unlovely in the eyes of men, yet it will not do so in the eyes of God. Shew, by thy generous despising of all their malicious censures and reproaches, that thou dost more respect and value the omniscience of God, who knows thee innocent; than all the slanders of men, who report thee guilty. Thus Jeremiah appeals unto God: Jer. xx. 10, 12. I heard the defaming of many.... Report, say they, and we will report it..... But, O Lord of Hosts, thou that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart....unto thee have I opened my cause.

And thus I have shewed you, in these Five particulars, how you ought to glorify the infinite Wisdom and Knowledge of

God.

5thly. Another attribute of God, which we are to glorify, is his Truth and Veracity.

This is an essential property of the divine nature; and therefore he is stiled a God of Truth: Ps. xxxi. 5. and a God, that cannot lie: Tit. i. 2. and, Heb. vi. 18. it is said it is impossible for God to lie.

Truth, or veracity, is nothing else but the conformity of our speeches to the being of things: as, when we affirm that which is, or deny that which is not, then are our speeches true. And, therefore, it is impossible for God to lie; for he cannot speak things otherwise than they be, who speaks them into being.

Now the first and general way of glorifying the truth of God, is, by imitating him in this attribute, and speaking truth one to another. St. Peter hath given us a rule, which, though in a more restrained and appropriate sense, it may especially concern the ministers of the gospel, the dispensers of the word of truth; yet I see not but that it may properly appertain unto all men : 1 Pet. iv. 11. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God....that God, in all things, may be glorified, through Jesus Christ: that is, let his speeches be as true and certain, as if they were divine oracles. Many indeed there are, who speak like the oracles of Apollo; ambiguously, equivocally, and falsely: but, to speak like the oracles of God, is to declare things as they are, simply and nakedly. And, if thou either knowest not the things in question, or upon some prudential considerations art unwilling to disclose them, either an acknowledgment thereof or a modest silence must be chosen by thee, without any crafty or guileful windings and ambages prejudicial to the truth. By this means, saith the Apostle, God will be glorified: as indeed he is, whensoever we endeavour to imitate him in his communicable attributes and perfections.

But, more particularly, God's truth is especially seen in Three things. In his

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(1st) Glorify the truth and veracity of God in his Predictions, by adoring his faithfulness in the wonderful accomplishment of those many prophecies, which have already been exactly and punctually fulfilled.

And, indeed, when we consider those prophetical passages in the Old Testament concerning Christ; the whole history of

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whose birth, the whole course of whose life, and the whole tragedy of whose death, were, so many ages before, clearly foretold, some declared by express prophecy, some signified by typical prefigurations; we cannot but admire the wonderful exactness of divine veracity, in so critically accomplishing every particular of what he had so long before declared should come to pass. And, truly, it is one, among many other excellencies of the Gospel of St. Matthew, that he doth so plainly accommodate the historical passages concerning our Saviour's birth, life, and death, to the prophetical predictions of them in the Old Testament: his birth, by a virgin: Isa. vii. 14. the place of it, Bethlehem: Micah v. 2. God's calling him back out of Egypt: Hos. xi. 1. the bloody massacre of the infants: Jer. xxxi. 15. the actions of his prodromus or fore-runner, John the Baptist: Isa. xl. 3. his dwelling in Capernaum: Isa. ix. 1, 2: and so, throughout the whole contexture of the history of Christ, the Evangelist compares the prophecies with the actual accomplishment of them, for the firmer establishing of our faith; and the clearer evidence that he was the true Messiah, whom that God, who cannot lie, had foretold should come in the fulness of time. As for those predictions concerning the state of the Church here on earth, which have not as yet received their accomplishment, and therefore are the more dark and obscure unto us, many of which are contained in the Revelations, we ought to glorify the truth and veracity of God, by an unwavering belief, that they also shall be punctually fulfilled in their due season, and that not a word which he hath spoken shall fall to the ground in vain.

(2dly) Glorify the truth and faithfulness of God in his Promises, by a confident expecting of those blessings, which he hath engaged himself to bestow upon us, if we be careful to perform the conditions upon which his promises are made.

If the condition be fulfilled on our part, the promise shall certainly be fulfilled on God's. Hath he promised eternal life to those who believe? assure thyself, that, if thou believest, thou shalt as certainly inherit it, as if thou wert even now glorified: for it is eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, hath promised. Or, hath he promised any temporal mercy and good things? that he will provide for thee, and protect thee? even these promises are conditional also, if so be they may be for thy good and his glory, which if he who is the all-wise God sees,

thou shalt infallibly obtain whatsoever thou desirest; if not, thou mayest very well be contented, for thou dost but desire a harm and damage to thyself. Here, then, glorify God, by resting thy soul and casting all thine affairs upon his promises. Thou hast his truth and veracity bound to make them good; and that, certainly, is such a precious pawn, as that he never hath nor ever will forfeit it.

(3dly) Glorify God's veracity in his Threatenings; trembling at the dreadful denunciations of his judgments, both temporal and eternal, against obstinate and impenitent sinners.

Which if thou dost in truth and sincerity of heart, this will fright thee from the commission of those sins, against which those heavy plagues and judgments are threatened: for, let him pretend what he will, that man doth not believe that God is trué in all his threatenings, who yet will dare to continue one day or hour longer in his sins impenitently. If neither the mercies nor the terrors of the Lord can persuade us to a holy life, we do but virtually and interpretatively give God the lie; and do not believe, that he is either faithful to his promises, or just and true to his threatenings.

6thly. Another attribute in God, which we ought to glorify, is his Almighty Power and Sovereignty.

Indeed, there is a difference between these two. For,

First. Power connotes only a natural strength and ability to do a thing; but Sovereignty includes in it a legal right and authority. And,

Secondly. Power may be found separate from Authority. And so, indeed, it is in the greatest princes and potentates on earth; all whose might and strength above other men consists, not in their natural, but only in their civil and political power and jurisdiction. And so, likewise, in God, his Power and his Sovereignty bear not the same date, neither are they of equal duration: for God was infinite in Power eternally before the creation of the world; and, had he never exerted his power in any of those wonderful effects of it which we behold, yet he had been for ever the same Almighty God that now he is: but Sovereignty and Dominion are ascribed unto him, in time; and, in the very notion of them, do necessarily presuppose the being of some subjects, over which he is the Sovereign Lord. Again, Thirdly. God's Power is of a much larger extent than his

Sovereignty. For his Power extends unto all things possible; since he is able to create many more worlds, and far more noble and excellent creatures in this, than he hath done: but his Sovereignty extends only to things actual. Whence our Saviour argues, Luke xx. 38. God is not the God of the dead: i. e. those, who so die as utterly to perish and come to nothing, as the Sadducees thought the souls of men did, but he is the God of the living. Briefly,

The Power of God is an absolute essential attribute of the divine nature; for ever invariably appertaining to him, whether he express it in any acts of creation and providence or no; but Sovereignty is a relative denomination, resulting from God's temporal acts of disposing and governing his creatures, according to the counsels of his own will and the rule of his immutable justice. But, because these two are so near allied, his sovereignty being founded upon his power, and his power expressed in the acts of his sovereignty and dominion, I shall therefore consider them together.

That God is glorious in this attribute of his power, the Scrip ture doth every where abundantly attest; stiling him the Almighty God, and ascribing strength and power unto him. Yea, and that he accounts it a very considerable part of his glory, see Ps. lxii. 11. God hath spoken once, yea twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God : and Ps. xxix. 1. Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength: as if he had said, You, that are the great and mighty ones upon earth, who make whole nations obedient to your beck and tremble at your frown, yet boast not yourselves of the greatness of your power: there is a Supreme God above, who if you speak of strength, lo, he is strong: Job ix. 19: a God, whose hand and whose voice can shake both heaven and earth out of their place, and make the haughtiest potentates lick the dust before him. Ascribe, therefore, unto him praise and glory, by ascribing unto him might and power; not only that stinted and limited power which you, who are but his under officers, are invested with; but a strength and power infinitely surmounting yours, who conceit yourselves so mighty. For your power can come into no comparison with God's power ; no, nor hold out against that which is accounted his very weakness : 1 Cor. i. 25. The weakness of God is stronger than men.

How then shall we glorify this Almighty Power of the Great God?

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